The MEC responsible for Department of Transport, Safety, Security and Liaison Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana together with Traffic chiefs from all districts and municipalities have agreed to step up law enforcement operation on hazardous routes and around major events to reduce road crashes and fatalities over the youth day long weekend and mid-year school holidays.
Motorists who plan to travel for the June 16 long weekend and school holidays can expect to see traffic law enforcement every 20 kilometers during their journey. High impact operations have been planned which will see national, provincial, and municipal traffic officers working jointly with the South African Police Service to proactively deal with traffic violations and reduce collisions.
The following roads have been identified as hazardous routes that will be intensely patrolled. The routes include the N1-South Gauteng to Polokwane, the N1-Norht Polokwane to Musina. R37 from Burgersford to Polokwane,N11 from Marbehall to Groblersberg, R81 Polokwane to Giyane, R521 Polokwane to Dendron.
Statistics collected by the Road Traffic Management Corporation indicate that the number of people dying on the roads in the month of June have been reduced by 11% in the past three years. The numbers have come down from 1262 in 2013 to 1072 in 2015.
Traffic chiefs are seeking to reduce fatalities further this year by focusing their operations on the days on which most collisions occur and factors that contribute to fatalities. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are the days generally associated with a high number of collisions including pay-day weekends and long weekends.
Drunk driving, speed, fatigue, uncontrolled pedestrian behaviour are some the human factors that will be addressed as they contribute majorly to collisions and fatalities.
Motorists are warned that major construction on some sections of the main national roads is currently underway to improve the quality of the roads.
For incident report please contact the department transport control room at: 0800 00 66 94 and 015 295 1022
Enquiries:
Mootane Kagiso
Tel: 015 294 8443
Cell: 072 763 1353
